On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” According to popular history Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed this first national flag, nicknamed the “Stars and Stripes.”

Laura Maria Ott Myers of Erath, Texas made this Stars and Stripes quilt around 1910 and it was later quilted by Inez Lee. The quilt was identified and reviewed during the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association’s Texas Quilt Search, which happened between 1983-1985. Karey Bresenhan served as quilt historian and described how the quilt is somewhat of a rule breaker: “…it is full of movement and images, yet the pieced stripes don’t match up, points in stars are cut off, the quilt edge ripples. . . .yet it is inspired.”

The quilt is included in the book Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. I, 1836-1936, by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes (Austin: University of Texas Press) and was included in an exhibition by the same name in the Texas State Capitol Rotunda, Austin, Texas, April 19-21, 1986.

View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view.

Sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-adopts-the-stars-and-stripes

Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org